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Somalia: Mortars Hit Baidoa, Islamist Rebels Capture Provincial Capital
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Garowe Online (Garowe)
8 July 2008
Posted to the web 9 July 2008
Garowe
Somalia's al Shabaab insurgents have claimed responsibility for a mortar attack on the inland city of Baidoa Tuesday, which killed one soldier near the presidential palace.
Muktar Robow "Abu Mansur," the al Shabaab spokesman, told local media that the mortars targeted the airport and the compound where interim President Abdullahi Yusuf stays at during his trips to Baidoa.
One soldier near the presidential palace was killed, while another six suffered some injuries, according to hospital sources.
It was the first mortar attack on Baidoa, a town 250km from Mogadishu where the country's interim parliament sits. Mortar attacks are quite common in Mogadishu, the national capital.
Meanwhile, unidentified attackers hurled hand grenades inside the home of Baidoa intelligence chief Mohamed Osman overnight Monday.
Mr. Osman's wife was wounded in the explosion, witnesses told Garowe Online.
Provincial capital falls
The capital of Middle Jubba region, in southern Somalia, was peacefully taken over by Islamic Courts fighters on Tuesday, locals reported.
Islamist commanders told residents in the town of Bu'ale that they will fight against "illegal roadblocks" and will "not allow" government officials to work there.
There was no report as to the whereabouts of regional and city officials appointed by the Somali transitional government, including Bu'ale Mayor Farah Noleyo.
Sheikh Salad Somow, one of the Islamist militia commanders, told Bu'ale locals that the Islamic Courts "will establish" a local administration for the town.
Somalia's interim government, backed by Ethiopian troops, spends most of its resources attempting to secure Mogadishu.
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Intelligence sources suspect that Middle Jubba and Lower Jubba regions, in Somalia's deep south, have training grounds for rebels waging war on the government.
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